C is for Cookie

Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco is on FIRE lately! Only gave up 1 run in his last 3 starts (tonight). He crept up on a no-no into the 6th inning, with only one walk. Until he gave up a hit in the 6th, he had pitched 21.1 scoreless innings in a row. I don't know what's gotten into this kid (he's 24) but DAMN! Anyone picking him up for fantasy? He's 6-1 over his last 7.

In case you were wondering who Carlos Carrasco is, let me introduce you:

MLB.com

Awesome relief pitching, as usual. Joe Smith is still rockin' the under-2.0 ERA (1.29). Our man Sipp! gets his second closing opportunity in as many nights, again giving up none. Both guys struck out 2!

Hafner didn't play tonight, and Grady was at DH. But we still looked fine without Pronk, which is great. Means he's not carrying us yet making us stronger.

Grady rocked out tonight with a double and a triple. The triple was due to some great baserunning on a looked-like-a-homer ball. If Manny Ramírez had hit a ball like that he may have been thrown out at first.

Asdrubal, gettin on base, stealin' bases, scoring runs, batting .301.

CHOOOOO 1 for 2, with 2 walks. Walking a lot lately which means that he's really focused at the plate. He had 10 walks and 28 strikeouts in May, but with June more than halfway over he's already got 7 walks and only 12 strikeouts. Tonight he went the other way for his hit, got an RBI and got his 10th stolen base as well. Nice stuff!

Carlos Santana did not get a hit tonight BUT...he got a sac fly for an RBI. He hasn't had one of those since May. Brantley also got himself a SF-RBI.

Orlando Cabrera is making a case for himself. He did sort of miss a ball to give the Pirates their first hit in the 6th, but then he came back and hit his 3rd homer of the year. Hrm.

Austin Kearns is doing better in an occasional role. He had a hard time getting started off the bench, but he's hit in 3 out of his 5 games here in June. Tonight he went 2 for 4 and scored a run.

Sweet Lou Marson was behind the plate again tonight, which my friend C agrees with me is the right place for him. Now that LaPorta is out for a bit (owie in the ankle with video *shudder*) we should see more Carlos at first. And we get Buck back too. Man I hate to lose LaPorta but I do like those players in those places...but, speedy recovery to Matt - he wasn't having too bad of a month.

Great great team effort again tonight, just like we've gotten used to. Solid starting pitching, shutout relief, small ball offense.

Hafner's back in tomorrow night. I'm excited to see the lineup! I might watch the game on tv with my dad if that's ok with everyone. No Radio Chatter, then. But that's ok as it's a little tiring this weekend without Tom Hamilton.

It's a 1:05 game tomorrow, bring your broom! Heck I might bring my broom to my dad's, just cuz I paid for it and stuff.

See you then!

Radio Chatter:
"The final count was over 60,000 dogs last night. [...] Sales of antacid in the Cleveland area were high today."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Friday's Dollar Dog Night

"Hammy is our big toe."
- Jim Rosenhaus on Tom Hamilton's absence

"Nobody can hit that breaking ball, Mike."
"Not just this ball club, nobody period."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hegan on Carrasco's breaking ball

"How many hitters would have watched it and not gotten to 3rd base?"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Grady's home-run-turned-triple